Seminar

Seminar - OSIRIS-REx: To Bennu and Back - Sept. 13

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 13:42:13 +0000

Seminar - OSIRIS-REx: To Bennu and Back - Sept. 13 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/03/2024 - 07:42

Friday, Sept. 13
10:40 a.m. - Seminar in AERO 120
11:30 a.m. - Panel Discussion / Q&A in AERO 111

This seminar will recount the two-year proximity operations and remote sensing campaign at Bennu, including the dramatic sample collection event and the events leading to the landing of the sample capsule in Utah.

A panel discussion will follow, featuring members of the Navigation and Flight Operations Team from NASA Goddard, Lockheed Martin, and KinetX, who will each recount specific challenges faced during the mission and the innovations that were implemented to overcome them.

Featured Speakers:

Dr. Michael C Moreau (AeroEngr MS’97, PhD’01) has worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center since 2001, and for over 10 years has served in leadership roles on the OSIRIS-REx Mission, as the manager of the Navigation Team during development, launch, and Bennu encounter, then as deputy project manager and leader of the sample return capsule recovery team. Mike’s Ph.D. research at CU focused on applications of the Global Positioning System in high Earth orbits, and contributed to the adoption of GPS on NASA missions such as GOES and Magnetosphere Multiscale. Before attending CU, he earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Vermont.

Over three decades, Dr. Peter Antreasian (AeroEngr PhD’92) has made contributions to the navigation of NASA missions, Galileo, NEAR, Mars Odyssey, MER, Cassini-Huygens, GRAIL, and OSIRIS-REx. He began his career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1992, then joined KinetX 20 years later to lead the OSIRIS-REx navigation team. His expertise in orbit determination and navigation has been crucial in the success of these missions, including the first-ever landing of a spacecraft on an asteroid and the return of an asteroid sample to Earth. Peter earned his BS, MS and PhD in Aerospace Engineering, respectively, from Purdue, University of Texas and University of Colorado.

Dr. Jason Leonard (AeroEngr MS’12, PhD’15) received his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder under the advisement of Dr. George Born. Currently, he is the Orbit Determination Group Supervisor at KinetX Aerospace and Deputy Navigation Team Chief for the NASA OSIRIS-REx and OSIRIS-APEX missions. He has been the Orbit Determination Team Lead for OSIRIS-REx since prior to Launch, during the duration of proximity operations and its successful acquisition of asteroid regolith, and through its return of the sample to Earth. For his contributions to the mission, Jason received the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal and the PI Award of Distinction.

Dr. Daniel Wibben is the Maneuver Design Group Supervisor for the Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics practice at KinetX Aerospace, Inc. Since joining the company, he has held the role of Maneuver and Trajectory lead for the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission. He has also been involved with the planning and operations of the LUCY, LunaH-Map, and DAVINCI missions. He received his B.S. in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona where his research was focused on nonlinear guidance techniques for asteroid proximity operations and planetary landing.

Coralie D. Adam (AeroEngr MS’17) is the Optical Navigation Group Supervisor at KinetX. She holds a B.S. in aerospace engineering and astronomy from the University of Illinois, and an M.S. in aerospace engineering sciences from the University of Colorado at Boulder. During her 12 years at KinetX, Coralie has had lead roles on the navigation teams for NASA’s New Horizons, OSIRIS-REx, Lucy, and OSIRIS-APEX missions. In addition to leading the OSIRIS-REx optical navigation subsystem from development through sample collection, she co-convened the scientific investigation of Bennu’s active particle ejection phenomena. Coralie is currently the deputy Navigation Team Chief on NASA’s Lucy mission, and a navigation lead and science co-investigator on the OSIRIS-APEX extended mission to asteroid Apophis.

Ryan Olds (AeroEngr BS’04, MS’09) has 19 years of experience in Guidance Navigation and Controls at Lockheed Martin Space supporting NASA Deep Space Exploration Missions. Ryan started his career working on the Pointing Control System for the Spitzer Space Telescope. He developed the reaction wheel control system for the twin-spacecraft GRAIL mission and supported test, integration, launch, and operations at the Moon. Ryan began working on OSIRIS-Rex in 2013 by developing control systems as well as the Natural Feature Tracking system which provided autonomous navigation for OSIRIS-REx during the mission’s sample acquisition phase. Ryan is currently a Guidance, Navigation and Controls manager and continues to support Deep Space Exploration missions such as OSIRIS-REx and DAVINCI.

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Seminar - From Field Sites to Satellites: Multi-Scale Remote Sensing and In Situ Observations of Cryospheric Albedo Reduction and Biogeochemical Feedbacks - Oct. 2

Jeff Zehnder — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 18:50:48 +0000

Seminar - From Field Sites to Satellites: Multi-Scale Remote Sensing and In Situ Observations of Cryospheric Albedo Reduction and Biogeochemical Feedbacks - Oct. 2 Jeff Zehnder Mon, 09/28/2026 - 12:50

Alia Khan
Associate Professor, Smead Aerospace
Friday, Oct. 2 | 10:40 A.M. | AERO 111

Abstract: The global cryosphere is undergoing rapid transformation. A missing component of snow and ice melt projections is biologically driven albedo reduction from algal blooms growing on snow and ice surfaces. Other light-absorbing particles (LAPs), including wildfire-derived black carbon and mineral dust, not only directly drive cryospheric darkening, but also indirectly serve as nutrient sources for snow and ice algae. Resolving these fine-scale, dynamic bio-optical and aerosol feedbacks across regional and global scales is essential to constraining major sources of uncertainty in Earth system modeling, water resource management, and sea-level rise projections. This seminar presents an integrative research framework that bridges aerospace remote sensing, analytical wet-lab biogeochemistry, and spectral geophysics to address these multi-scale feedbacks.

Exploiting the distinct absorption features of algal pigments and dust mineralogy, my research group leverages multi-platform observations by combining multi-sensor UAV payloads, low-latency commercial SmallSat data (SkySat), and spaceborne hyperspectral sensors (NASA PACE) to unmix discrete spectral signatures (e.g., penguin guano from snow algae and dust) and map surface darkening at resolutions ranging from sub-centimeter scales using UAVs to 0.5 meters via commercial satellites. Ground-based and laboratory analyses (e.g., LC-Q/TOF mass spectrometry, flow cytometry, and SP2-XR/D single-particle aerosol soot characterization) are used to validate aerial observations, develop novel algorithms for remote concentration retrieval, and evaluate Snow Ice Aerosol Radiation (SNICARv3) model parameterizations against in-situ hyperspectral albedo measurements.

To overcome operational hazards in extreme environments, we are also developing autonomous field robotics, including a custom NSF-funded, UAV-mounted robotic sampler—designed and built with CU engineering students—for remote physical sample retrieval across hard-to-access polar and glaciated terrain. Finally, this presentation highlights scholarly contributions since Fall 2022, including external research funding across NASA and NSF supporting field campaigns in Antarctica, Greenland, Alaska, and the North Cascades.

Bio: Dr. Alia Khan is an Associate Professor in Aerospace Engineering Sciences at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, where she leads the Cryosphere Remote Sensing and Biogeochemistry Group. She is an alumna of the CU Environmental Engineering program and INSTAAR. After completing her PhD in 2016, she then worked as a Postdoc at the National Snow and Ice Data Center with a primary focus on water and snow chemistry in High Mountain Asia as part of a USAID funded project. Dr. Khan was an Assistant and Associate Professor at Western Washington University in Bellingham from 2019 - 2025 before returning to CU.

The global cryosphere is undergoing rapid transformation. A missing component of snow and ice melt projections is biologically driven albedo reduction from algal blooms growing on snow and...

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Seminar: Robots for Moon, Mars, and The Space In Between - Oct. 5

Jeff Zehnder — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:42:17 +0000

Seminar: Robots for Moon, Mars, and The Space In Between - Oct. 5 Jeff Zehnder Thu, 09/24/2026 - 10:42

Rudranarayan Mukherjee
Chief Architect, Katalyst Space
Monday, Oct. 5 | 2:30 P.M. | AERO N250

Abstract: When we picture space robotics, Mars rovers and the ISS robotic arm usually steal the show. Yet the past decade has sparked a quiet revolution in how robots enable novel science and national security missions. This talk discusses emerging applications for space robotics, moving from Earth-observation and deep-space astrophysics servicing to planetary exploration and national interest. Highlighting end-to-end terrestrial analog demonstrations (robots assembling trusses, solar panels, radars, and optical telescopes, servicing satellites, and hazardous terrain mobility and logistics), we will dissect the tight coupling required across hardware-software co-design, flight autonomy, AI/ML, and high-fidelity modeling and simulation. We conclude with a roadmap for scaling these systems and actionable pathways for researchers, engineers, and innovators to enter the domain.

Bio: Dr. Rudranarayan Mukherjee is a space robotics authority who served as principal investigator for NASA, NOAA, JPL, DARPA, CDC, DIU, SDA and other national stakeholders. During nearly two decades at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), he served as JPL’s lead for In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) and on the NASA Strategic Capability Leadership Team for RPO-D/C (rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking/capture). His technical leadership experience includes the full spectrum of robotic system development and projects such as Mars Curiosity rover, Mars and Lunar Sample Return, Habitable Worlds Observatory, DARPA’s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites among others. He also led high profile activities such as the NASA In-Space Assembled Telescope study and contributed heavily to US policy on ISAM by founding the the Space SMART Think Tank. An elected member of the ASME Technical Committee on Multibody Dynamics and Nonlinear Systems, he currently serves as Chief Architect at Katalyst Space Technology (Broomfield, CO), leading ISAM flight mission implementations, one for spacecraft deorbiting and another for robotic assembly for power-beaming.

When we picture space robotics, Mars rovers and the ISS robotic arm usually steal the show. Yet the past decade has sparked a quiet revolution in how robots enable novel science and...

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Seminar: Leveraging Radar Systems and Ambient Radio Signals for Remote Sensing of the Terrestrial and Space Environment - Sept. 25

Jeff Zehnder — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 16:58:22 +0000

Seminar: Leveraging Radar Systems and Ambient Radio Signals for Remote Sensing of the Terrestrial and Space Environment - Sept. 25 Jeff Zehnder Mon, 09/21/2026 - 10:58

Sean Peters
Assistant Professor, Smead Aerospace
Friday, Sept. 25 | 10:40 A.M. | AERO 111

Abstract: Radar remote sensing observations are critical for understanding and predicting our evolving Earth and planetary systems. However, traditional radars must transmit their own powerful electromagnetic pulses to measure surface and subsurface properties from echo reflections. As such, these systems are resource-intensive in terms of cost, power, and logistics, particularly when aiming to continuously monitor extreme environments (e.g., ice sheets, the space environment, and planetary bodies) across their evolving characteristic spatial and temporal scales.

In this talk, I will describe our group’s work to develop passive radar systems and signal processing techniques that leverage ambient electromagnetic signals (natural, radio-astronomical, and anthropogenic) for remote sensing observations, reducing the need for active transmission. In particular, I will present the design, development, and field experiments in Death Valley and Iceland of the Passive Autonomy, Navigation, Topography, and Habitability Exploration Radar (PANTHER); this includes an in-situ demonstration of echo detection using high frequency (HF) Jovian radio bursts, which is a key step towards developing a low-resource passive HF radar for future planetary missions.

In the second part of my talk, I will describe how my group extends radar remote sensing across terrestrial and planetary domains. Terrestrially, this includes forward modeling of radar return signatures of wildfire smoke plumes. On the planetary side, this includes modeling passive radar mission concepts using alternative radio-astronomical sources (such as Saturn's kilometric radiation for investigating Titan and Enceladus). Lastly, I will present our work to develop a fast, coherent, 3D radar sounder simulator for complex subsurfaces at planetary scales, with the potential to bridge both domains. This work highlights how recycling ambient electromagnetic signals and advancing radar techniques can enable new pathways for Earth and planetary remote sensing, offering both scientific insights and potential advantages in challenging environments.

Bio: Dr. Sean Peters is an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research bridges radar engineering, signal processing, and geophysics to develop low-resource radar remote sensing technologies for observing terrestrial, planetary, and space environments. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Rice University in 2015, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2017 and 2020, respectively. Before joining ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and a Space Systems Academic Group faculty affiliate at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA. Prior to NPS, he was a Technical Staff Member in the Airborne Radar Systems and Techniques Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

Radar remote sensing observations are critical for understanding and predicting our evolving Earth and planetary systems. However, traditional radars must transmit their...

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Seminar - Understanding Aerospace Plasmas and Magnetoaerodynamics to Enhance Hypersonics at Earth and Beyond - Sept. 18

Jeff Zehnder — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 23:17:05 +0000

Seminar - Understanding Aerospace Plasmas and Magnetoaerodynamics to Enhance Hypersonics at Earth and Beyond - Sept. 18 Jeff Zehnder Fri, 09/11/2026 - 17:17

Hisham Ali
Assistant Professor, Smead Aerospace
Friday, Sept. 18 | 10:40 A.M. | AERO 111

Abstract: A critical phase of both spaceflight at Earth and exploration of planetary bodies is hypersonic atmospheric entry. During this hypersonic phase of flight, there exists a highly heated, ionized plasma flow around the vehicle driven by the conversion of kinetic energy to thermal energy. Through application of a magnetic field from within a vehicle, a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow interaction is possible with this entry plasma to benefit hypersonic vehicle performance, with the potential to expand operating envelopes by augmenting aerodynamic control forces and reducing aerothermal heating loads.

However, experimental demonstrations of this type of MHD interaction in conditions and configurations relevant to hypersonic entry systems are extremely limited, with few test facilities capable of creating relevant conditions in the global research community.

In establishing the Magnetoaerodynamics and Aerospace Plasmas Laboratory at the University of Colorado Boulder, I have aimed to address this gap through the multi-year design, development, and commissioning several unique radio-frequency (RF) inductively coupled plasma (ICP) tunnel facilities with power levels up to 40kW. These facilities produce high temperature, chemically pure, continuous plasma flows within vacuum chambers to simulate plasmas formed during high altitude hypersonic entry flight for Earth and other planetary bodies such as Mars, Venus, and the Ice Giants in ground-based test facilities.

Overall, the facility is one of less than five such high power RF inductively coupled plasma tunnel facilities in US academia, and its uniquely high vacuum pumping capacity can maintain lower chamber base pressures for simulating high altitude hypersonic flight environments. The laboratory includes access for various plasma, fluid, and thermal diagnostics to facilitate hypersonics experimental investigations with a unique focus on magnetohydrodynamics for hypersonics and aerospace plasmas—magnetoaerodynamics.

In my talk, I will discuss mission design studies quantifying the impact of magnetoaerodynamics on hypersonic entry systems as well as several experimental studies leveraging our unique plasma tunnel facilities, including fundamental studies of the aerothermochemistry for non-equilibrium expanding plasma flows, aerothermal environment testing for hypersonic thermal protection system materials, ground-based experimental investigations of RF signal propagation through hypersonic entry-relevant plasmas, and novel experimental studies of MHD interactions such as aerodynamic force augmentation and aerothermal heating mitigation.

Bio: Hisham Ali is an Assistant Professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at The University of Colorado Boulder.

Prior to joining ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, Prof. Ali was a Member of Technical Staff at The Aerospace Corporation Colorado Springs and a Research Engineer and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Prof. Ali earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering with minors in Mathematics and Computer Based Honors from The University of Alabama in May 2013 and earned his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in May 2015 and August 2019, respectively.

Prof. Ali is a recipient of the 2026 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, and his research team includes nine PhD students with interests in hypersonics and aerospace plasmas with numerous national fellowship awards from NASA, NSF, and Industry. Prof. Ali’s current research interests are in hypersonics, plasma physics, magnetohydrodynamics, and planetary entry systems.

A critical phase of both spaceflight at Earth and exploration of planetary bodies is hypersonic atmospheric entry. During this...

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Seminar: Toward predictive models for gas phase phenomena in hypersonic flows - Sept. 11

Jeff Zehnder — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 19:05:59 +0000

Seminar: Toward predictive models for gas phase phenomena in hypersonic flows - Sept. 11 Jeff Zehnder Tue, 09/08/2026 - 13:05

Robyn Macdonald
Assistant Professor, Smead Aerospace
Friday, Sept. 11 | 10:40 A.M. | AERO 111

Abstract: Understanding hypersonic flowfields is important for vehicle design for both space exploration and national defense applications. However, computational models for hypersonic flows require coupling a variety of physics which may not be well understood.

As one example, gas phase chemical reactions can affect the energy balance, and can couple with other flows physics to impact the prediction of surface quantities such as heat flux. In addition, surface roughness either due to design or ablation can trigger transition to turbulence, which also influences both heat flux and aerodynamic loads crucial for vehicle design.

This talk will highlight work aimed at improving predictive capabilities for hypersonic flows focused in two areas: first, understanding the fundamental chemical processes occurring in hypersonic flows and constructing models for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for such processes, and second, enabling high-fidelity simulations of turbulent hypersonic flows including the effects of chemistry or roughness. In the first area, we make use of ab initio chemistry data to understand at a microscopic level the chemical processes occurring in the gas.

Using information and data from microscopic scale simulations, we construct simplified models for application to CFD. In the second area, I will highlight work focused on incorporating finite rate chemistry phenomena to enable scale resolved simulations of hypersonic flowfields using large eddy simulation, as well as work focused on understanding the effect of roughness on supersonic turbulent boundary layers.

Bio: Robyn Macdonald is an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research interests include gas-phase chemical kinetics, and turbulence and transition modeling for hypersonic flows. Prior to joining CU, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota. She received her B.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2013 and 2019 respectively. She is the recipient of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Award and NASA Early Career Faculty Award.

Understanding hypersonic flowfields is important for vehicle design for both space exploration and national defense applications. However, computational models for hypersonic flows require coupling a variety of...

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Seminar - Measuring Earth’s Time-Variable Gravity with Future Satellite Constellations: From MAGIC to Orbiting Optical Clocks and Beyond - Sept. 4

Jeff Zehnder — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 18:51:09 +0000

Seminar - Measuring Earth’s Time-Variable Gravity with Future Satellite Constellations: From MAGIC to Orbiting Optical Clocks and Beyond - Sept. 4 Jeff Zehnder Wed, 08/26/2026 - 12:51

Khosro Ghobadi-Far
Assistant Professor, Smead Aerospace
Friday, Sept. 4 | 10:40 A.M. | AERO 111

Abstract: Measuring temporal changes in Earth’s gravity field provides a unique way to monitor redistribution of water and ice associated with processes such as icesheet mass loss, groundwater depletion, and floods. The NASA GRACE (2002-2017) and GRACE Follow-On (2018-present) missions have demonstrated this capability by using ultra-precise inter-satellite ranging to track changes in the distance between two co-orbiting satellites.

However, their ability to resolve smaller-scale and more rapidly changing signals is limited by a spatial resolution of about 300 km and typical monthly sampling. Future satellite gravimetry missions offer an exciting opportunity to overcome these limitations.

In this talk, I will first demonstrate the potential of the future dual-pair MAGIC satellite constellation, consisting of the NASA polar GRACE-C pair and the ESA inclined NGGM pair, to improve spatial and temporal resolution of mass change estimates. I will then explore orbiting optical clocks as a new approach to satellite gravimetry and evaluate their performance for different satellite formation flying architectures.

A comparison of optical-clock and inter-satellite ranging approaches, including their performance against MAGIC, will highlight the strengths and limitations of each technique and provide insights into promising architectures for future missions. These results highlight the potential of future satellite gravimetry to provide more detailed observations of Earth system dynamics at various spatial and temporal scales.

Bio: Dr. Khosro Ghobadi-Far is an Assistant Professor in the Ann and H. J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and a Fellow of CIRES. His fundamental research focuses on modeling Earth’s gravity field using current and future satellite constellations, while his applied research focuses on remote sensing of freshwater resources.

He received his B.S. in Civil Engineering-Geomatics from the University of Tabriz, an M.S. in Geodesy from the University of Tehran, and a Ph.D. in Geodesy from the University of Newcastle. He was a postdoctoral scholar at Virginia Tech before joining the University of Colorado Boulder.

Measuring temporal changes in Earth’s gravity field provides a unique way to monitor redistribution of water and ice associated with processes such as...

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Seminar: Human health and performance in complex environments - Aug. 28

Jeff Zehnder — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 22:50:13 +0000

Seminar: Human health and performance in complex environments - Aug. 28 Jeff Zehnder Thu, 08/20/2026 - 16:50

Katya Arquilla

Katya Arquilla
Assistant Professor, Smead Aerospace
Friday, Aug. 28 | 10:40 a.m. | AERO 111

Abstract: Operations in complex environments are characterized by limited infrastructure, resources, and expertise coupled with multiple environmental stressors that interact with and amplify each other to affect human health and performance. For example, future Lunar operations will require astronauts to explore dynamic terrain with increased risk of injury while experiencing challenges to visual acuity in permanently shaded regions and communication delays with mission control. Each of these factors presents a unique challenge to both individual performance and team dynamics. In this talk, I will describe the research my group is doing to address these challenges and dig more deeply into wearable sensing as a method of unobtrusively monitoring changes in human health and performance across environments. I will discuss the utility of collecting continuous physiological data, pressing challenges for wearable sensor signal quality in complex environments, sensor design decisions that can mitigate these effects, and novel analytical approaches my group has developed to increase the potential information gleaned from each physiological signal. Future space exploration missions and operations in extreme environments on Earth are becoming increasingly complex, with automation and artificial intelligence playing a greater role in operational teams, so quantifying and augmenting human health and performance will be critical to mission success.

Bio: Dr. Katya Arquilla is an Assistant Professor in the Ann and H. J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, where she is one of five PIs in the Bioastronautics Laboratory. Her work focuses on characterizing human health and performance in complex, operational environments laboratory experiments, analog space missions, and field studies. She received her B.S. degree in astrophysics from Rice University in 2014, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2018 and 2021, respectively. Prior to joining the faculty at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, Dr. Arquilla was a postdoctoral researcher and faculty member in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT.

Operations in complex environments are characterized by limited infrastructure, resources, and expertise coupled with multiple environmental stressors that...

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Seminar: Unsteady spallation of low-density carbon fiber ablators - Apr. 17

Jeff Zehnder — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 17:10:23 +0000

Seminar: Unsteady spallation of low-density carbon fiber ablators - Apr. 17 Jeff Zehnder Fri, 04/10/2026 - 11:10

Francesco Panerai
Assistant Professor, Aerospace Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Friday, Apr. 17 | 10:40 A.M. | AERO 114

Abstract: We discuss recent findings from inductively coupled plasma wind tunnel experiments on the spallation of lightweight charring ablators. Spallation effects due to flow shear stresses and internal pressure build-up have been the subject of renewed interest by the ablation community. A direct comparison of PICA and FiberForm ablation under supersonic air and nitrogen plasma revealed distinct processes attributed to the presence of oxidation reactions, or absence thereof. Spallation in nitrogen plasma is characterized by intermittent particle release events, attributed to carbonaceous deposits that accumulate at the ablator surface. These precipitates originate from carbon sublimation and nitridation products that subsequently redeposit on the layered ablator surface, decreasing surface permeability. Particle release events occur as a result of the consequent increase in interior pressure caused by continued sublimation and production of pyrolysis gases beneath the carbonaceous deposition.

These effects result in dominant contributions to the overall ablation processes, where unsteady spallation can account for upwards of 45% of the total mass loss in nitrogen plasma, with immediate implications to heat shield design. By contrast, no comparable carbon depositions or unsteady particle releases are observed in air plasma at similar enthalpies, suggesting that, while sublimation and nitridation processes are active, all gaseous carbon is consumed by atomic oxygen near the surface. Overall, our results provide new insights on the high-temperature ablation regime, where the tight interactions of sublimation, carbon deposition, and boundary layer carbon/oxygen reactions require further investigation.

Bio: Francesco Panerai is an Assistant Professor in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research covers advanced materials for extreme environments, transport in porous media, and hypersonic aerothermodynamics. Prior to Illinois, he was a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center. He received his PhD and Research Master in Aeronautics and Aerospace from von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics in (Belgium) and a M.Sc. and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Perugia (Italy). He is recipient of the 2019 Air Force Young Investigator Award and is an AIAA Associate Fellow. He is one of the founding members of the Center for Hypersonics and Entry Systems Studies (CHESS) at the University of Illinois.

We discuss recent findings from inductively coupled plasma wind tunnel experiments on the spallation of lightweight charring ablators. Spallation effects due to...

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Seminar - The United States Navy: 250 Years of Innovation - Apr. 10

Jeff Zehnder — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:37:30 +0000

Seminar - The United States Navy: 250 Years of Innovation - Apr. 10 Jeff Zehnder Fri, 04/03/2026 - 14:37

Michelle Howard
U.S. Navy Admiral (Ret.)
Former Vice Chief of Naval Operations
Friday, Apr. 10 • 10:40 a.m. • AERO 114

Seven Seas and Air Space | Space | Cyber Space | Seabed to Space

Abstract: From wooden hulls crossing the Delaware River in 1775 to directed-energy weapons, satellite intercepts, and cyber operations today, the United States Navy has continuously reinvented itself to meet the demands of an evolving strategic environment.

This presentation traces 250 years of naval innovation across four domains — the Seven Seas and airspace, space, cyberspace, and the seabed-to-space continuum — exploring how the Navy has adapted its warfighting capabilities to each new frontier.

Drawing on landmark moments such as Operation Burnt Frost, the emergence of cyber warfare, and the rise of unmanned systems, Admiral Howard examines the forces that have driven naval transformation and the challenges that lie ahead as competitors contest every domain from the ocean floor to orbit.

As Yogi Berra famously noted, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future" — yet understanding how the Navy has innovated over two and a half centuries offers the clearest possible guide to what comes next.

Bio: Admiral Michelle J. Howard served over 35 years in the United States Navy, commanding a ship, an Expeditionary Strike Group, a Task Force, and a Naval theater. In 1999 she became the first African American woman to command a ship in the Navy. In 2014 she became the first woman to achieve the rank of four-star Admiral in the U.S. Navy and the first woman appointed as Vice Chief of Naval Operations.

Her career included NATO peacekeeping operations, Indonesia Tsunami Relief, Maritime Security Operations, and the rescue of the Maersk Alabama from Somali pirates. She is a Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran.

Admiral Howard subsequently served as the Shapiro Visiting Professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, and is a member of the IBM Board of Directors.

Featuring U.S. Navy Admiral (Ret.) Michelle Howard. From wooden hulls crossing the Delaware River in 1775 to directed-energy weapons, satellite intercepts, and cyber operations today, the United States Navy has...

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